The Cornerstone

The Cornerstone #33 – Fr. Maximilian Dean on the principle of action and reaction (7min) >>> Play

A repost of past video for the AirMaria Scotus Month Nov 8th-Dec 8th

Ave Maria!

St. Therese of the Child Jesus has said, “Love is repaid by love alone.” Elsewhere it is said in simpler form: “Love for love,” meaning God first offers us His love in the hope that we will respond by giving Him ours.

This principle of action and reaction is the heart of Bl. John Duns Scotus’ teaching. God first acts by willing Christ, the God-man, and the God-man responds with His Heart aflame for the love and glory of the Father. We also see God’s principle of action and reaction in the predestination of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Listen now as Father explains this eye-opening principle of “Love for love,” “action and reaction,” and how it plays out in all of creation, and in our lives.

The Cornerstone #27 – Sin or no sin, Bl. John Duns Scotus believes that the Incarnation was God’s plan from the beginning. (6min) >>> Play

Repost of Previous video for Scotus Month on AirMaria

Ave Maria!

“Click in” as Fr. Maximilian Mary recapitulates all that he has said thus far about the absolute primacy of Jesus Christ and prepares to launch into the subject of the mediation of grace and glory through the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Having established the absolute primacy of Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone will show where Our Lady fits into God’s plan and what that means for our spiritual life.

In the previous episode, Fr. Maximilian spoke of the “Alpha” and the “Omega” of the spiritual life which is: Jesus Christ. And in this episode, Father recapitulates all he has spoken of ever since the – “Alpha” – first episode, because we have now reached the “Omega” of this series, the final episode. It has been a captivating experience as Father led us to a deeper understanding of the Absolute Primacy of Christ, the subordinate primacy of Our Lady and the importance this has on our spiritual lives. Especially the role of Our Lady on mediating the graces which conform us to Christ. We hope you enjoyed this series, and we thank you for joining us!
Ave Maria!

The Cornerstone #41 – Conformity to Christ Crucified through the mediation of the Immaculate ( 7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

After looking at the spiritual life at different angles based on the different persons found in the drama at Calvary. Father Maximilian speaks of the Alpha and the Omega of the spiritual life: Christ – who has the Absolute Primacy. The peak of the spiritual life, through the mediation of the Immaculate is: Transforming Union with the Beloved. This mystery of Christ the King on Calvary redeeming the world, summing all things under his Headship and uniting it to God the Father is made present in the Holy Eucharist in Holy Communion. Listen to Father Maximilian speak of souls becoming conformed to Christ through the Heart of the Immaculate.

The Cornerstone #40 – Fr. Maximilian focuses on Our Lady at the Crucifixion (7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Father Maximilian continues to look at the characters of the Passion and how they reflect different aspects of the spiritual life. Now he shifts his focus to Our Blessed Mother, the woman who suffered and yet still rejoiced in God her Savior. Mary is THE model of the Church; she is the “Virgin made Church” as St. Francis called her. Father Stefano Manelli, founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, outlines 3 points on our Marian journey towards perfect union with Christ, and Father Maximilian discusses these 3 points in this episode.

[Again, we apologize for the glitch at the end of the recording. We suggest that you just close your eyes and listen to Father’s wonderful words. It’s not worth missing!]

The Cornerstone #39 – Fr. Maximilian on Mary and St. John at Calvary and their relation to our spiritual life. ( 8min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

In this episode, Fr. Maximilian continues to reflect on the role of Mary in our spiritual lives. Who is the model of contemplation at Calvary? It is the beloved disciple, John the Apostle. St. John contemplated the Word made flesh; he laid his head against the breast of Christ at the institution of the Holy Eucharist; and he witnessed the lance piece the heart of the same Christ on Mt. Calvary.

Fr. Maximilian uses St. John as a model to discuss the two forms of contemplative prayer: acquired contemplation and infused contemplation. Acquired contemplation, or “the prayer of quiet,” involves a simple, silent union with God, and Father uses St. Theresa of Avila to illustrate this phase. Infused contemplation is prayer that is totally given from above and engages all of our faculties: memory, intellect, and will.

[Again, we apologize for the glitch at the end of the recording. We suggest that you just close your eyes and listen to Father’s wonderful words. It’s not worth missing!]

In this episode, Fr. continues his examination of the scene at Calvary and Mary’s role in our spiritual life. The process of “purification” is essential if we are to grow in our Christian life, and we see this process embodied in the person of St. Mary Magdalen. In the Gospels, Mary Magdalen is always depicted as being at the feet of Jesus. She lay at His feet when the Pharisees & scribes attempted to have her stoned; she washed His feet with costly perfume at the house of Simon the Pharisee; at Calvary, she knelt weeping at the foot of the cross; and after the resurrection, she is seen clinging to Christ whom she mistook as a gardener. It was at Calvary that Mary Magdalen was cleansed all the more of her sins by the blood of the Lamb and the tears of His Mother.

St. John Chrysostom said: “In the Magdalen, Christ found a harlot, but He made her purer than a virgin.” When we are purified, we become more and more holy and pleasing to God, and Father Maximilian discusses 2 aspects of this purification, as described by St. John of the Cross. These 2 aspects are known as “the dark night of the senses” and “the dark night of the soul”.

[Again, we apologize for the glitch at the end of the recording. We suggest that you just close your eyes and listen to Father’s wonderful words. It’s not worth missing!]

The Cornerstone #37 – Fr Maximilian Dean on Mary and St Longinus in the light of the Primacy of Christ (7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

In this episode, we return to blood-stained Calvary and the tears of Our Lady, which co-mingled with the blood of Jesus for our salvation. Now Father Maximilian points his spotlight on the centurion, St. Longinus, a Roman executioner by trade and then a child of God by grace. He participated in and witnessed the most excruciating death in the history of the world. St. Longinus is the one who thrust the lance into the side of Christ. Christ had already expired and so did not feel the pain of that blow, but His mother, standing but a short distance away, felt that wound acutely.

[note: We apologize for the technical glitch toward the end of this vlog. We aren’t able to re-record the show with Father Maximilian, being that he’s in a contemplative house in Italy praying for all of us!]

The Cornerstone #36 – Fr. Maximilian and the Good Thief (6min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!
This episode Fr. Maximilian discusses St. Dismas, the Good Thief, who died with Christ, but confessed his sins and asked Him for forgiveness. Listen as Fr. Maximilian explains how Mary has a role in his conversion. He also covers the conversion of Alphonse Ratisbonne who converted with the help of Mary.Ave Maria!

The Cornerstone #35 – If Adam and Eve had not sinned, would Mary have even existed? (7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!
If Adam and Eve had not sinned, would Mary have even existed?
In this episode, Fr. Maximilian discusses how the Franciscan thesis differs from the Thomistic thesis in regards to Our Lady. Is the difference between the two positions minimal or is it stark? Fr. quotes from Thomaists such as St. Thomas of Villanova and St. Alphonsus Ligouri and notes how their statements differ from those of St. Bonaventure and the Franciscan school. A warning to all viewers and theologians: be prepared for a quarrel when you start talking about Fr. Maximilian’s Mother!

The Cornerstone #34 – Fr. Maximilian Dean on how God’s plan remains unchanged even with the sin of Adam (7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

“The overall ‘Plan’ [of God] is always the same, but [because of sin] the ‘plan’ changes.”

How can God’s plan for all creation be the same but not the same? This statement from the followers of Bl. Jon Duns Scotus seems to be a contradiction. In this episode of The Absolute Primacy of Christ, Fr. Maximilian unravels this mystery by using 2 diagrams from his book to illustrate how God’s “Plan” with a large “P” – meaning the Absolute Predestination of Jesus and Mary – was always the same, but His “plan” with a small “p” was altered, or changed, because of Adam’s sin.

The Cornerstone #33 – Fr. Maximilian Dean on the principle of action and reaction (7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

St. Therese of the Child Jesus has said, “Love is repaid by love alone.” Elsewhere it is said in simpler form: “Love for love,” meaning God first offers us His love in the hope that we will respond by giving Him ours.

This principle of action and reaction is the heart of Bl. John Duns Scotus’ teaching. God first acts by willing Christ, the God-man, and the God-man responds with His Heart aflame for the love and glory of the Father. We also see God’s principle of action and reaction in the predestination of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Listen now as Father explains this eye-opening principle of “Love for love,” “action and reaction,” and how it plays out in all of creation, and in our lives.

The Cornerstone #32 – “She is the Mediatrix between us and the Mediator (Christ) by Divine decree.” (6min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

“After God there is Jesus, after Jesus, there is the Blessed Virgin Mary.” There is nothing heretical in such a statement as long as it is understood properly, and the glory of the BVM has been an underlying theme of this series.

Christ is the Head of His Body, the Church, and we can say that in a special way Mary would be the “neck” of the Body. “She is the Mediatrix between us and the Mediator (Christ) by Divine decree.”

Listen now to Father’s prayerful, meditative instruction as he further develops the theme of grace, it’s nature, and how it comes to us through the hands of Mary.

The Cornerstone #31 – Fr. Maximilian explains how the doctrine of the Primacy of Christ is expressed in the Marian teachings of St. Francis and St. Maximilian (8min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Fr. Maximilian continues his reflection on Mary in God’s creative plan. In this entry, Father reaffirms Mary’s exalted position through the eyes of St. Francis in his “Antiphon for the Office of the Passion” and in another of his prayers titled “Salutation to the Blessed Virgin“. In these prayers, Francis highlights the fact the Mary has a unique relation to the Trinity that no other creature shares. Fr. then explains how St. Maximilian Kolbe borrowed from and deepened this insight of Francis in his own prayer of praise.

The Cornerstone #30 – Fr. Maximilian Explains the Unique Role of Mary in God’s plan (8min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Continuing on the theme of Christ’s mediation of grace, Fr. Maximilian reflects on how Christ allows us to participate in His mediation. We are all actors or players on the stage of life, and, to borrow somewhat from Shakespeare, we each have a part to play in God’s plan. Do some participate more fully in God’s plan than others? Do all the children of God have an equal share in His mediation of grace? Listen now as Father Maximilian explains the uniqueness of Mary and her place on center stage.